Did you know we have over 4,000 stories in our archive? Because we have more than 4,000 stories in our archive. We’re planning an adventure of our own for later in the week, and in deciding what to bring and what to punt back to the garage, we were reminded of this gem. We decided to re-run it for new readers to enjoy. – Ed.
A heavy backpack can make a backpacking trip no fun at all. Here are a few tips to lighten your load and maximize the fun on your next outing:
1. Instead of packing 8 beers for your overnight backpacking trip, just take 6. Total weight savings: 1.5 pounds.
2. At the trailhead, open your pack and remove two or three pairs of shoes from it. Leave them in the car.
3. Instead of that old kerosene lantern, try a headlamp. This can shave several ounces off your pack weight. For example, by leaving your Coleman 1 Mantle Kerosene Lantern at home and replacing it with a Petzl Tikka headlamp, you’ll decrease your total pack weight by 4 pounds, 11 ounces.
4. If you notice you have a baby with you, run back into town quick and find someone to babysit it for the weekend. Babies are heavy and become awkward to carry after several miles. Plus they require lots of extra food and gear like diapers.
5. At the trailhead, set aside all your heavy stuff and ask your friend to carry it for you. Explain that you are trying to lighten your pack.
6. Try to limit yourself to three or fewer stuffed animals.
7. Portable video game consoles are heavy. Instead of your Nintendo Swith Lite (10 ounces), download a few games like Angry Birds Star Wars II, Blek, Desert Golf, and NBA Jam to your iPhone and hope those will get you by for the weekend or week.
8. Instead of packing separate bottles of shampoo, conditioner, mousse, gel, detangler, and hairspray, try using a stylish but lightweight hat to hide your dirty hair for the weekend.
9. Buy all new stuff. If your stuff is from last year, it’s very likely way heavier than this year’s stuff. Go into a gear store and tell them to give you all new camping stuff, and enjoy the weight savings, plus the shiny newness. If anyone gives you any shit about it, such as your spouse, tell them your old stuff was too heavy and it was giving you back pain.
10. If you have some things that are troubling you, tell them to someone on the way to your hike, or to your friend when you meet at the trailhead. Even if it’s just a convenience store attendant or bartender, it can be very cathartic to just get your problems off your chest. This will lighten your pack, if only metaphysically.
Photo by jaywei80
But how will i live without my xbox in the backcountry?
Very funny stuff; love Semi-Rad. Number ten strikes closest to home. Great post.
*frantically* WRITE THAT DOWN WRITE THAT DOWN
This is great. I love it.
Hard to believe, but #6 is a real challenge for my 10-year-old daughter who sleeps with an army of stuffed animals on her bed. There’s little piggy, big piggy, big owl, small owl, hello kitty, Mr Strong, squishy piggy and a few more. Last time we went backpacking, she limited the stuffies to 2 and at the last minute, added a little one because “he would be feeling lonely.” Never mind the weight – she carried everything. You never know what kids will do for a good night’s sleep:)
Or, just place all the beers in your partners pack to surprise them with at the top!
#9 – I love it. I fall to that one every year. I always have to have the latest camping gadget or newest gear-widget. Great article.
Just take weed, weed is lighter than beer and you will forget you are even wearing a pack.
For light, I like the Big Agnes MtnGLO string of lights–they give a more diffuse, homey light for your tent.
Plus, they’re super lightweight (about 3 ounces), though there are other lightweight lights/lanterns.
I took my kids (2 & 4) on a 3 day trip into the boundary waters, are you saying it would have been easier if I left them home? I might have to try that.
i lightened my backcountry load to about 10% of what i was backpacking with. i adopted a burro from the b.l.m. (that would be land management) tamed and trained her and the result is no more backpacking, as the beast took the load off the back…….and a good companion for kids too!
#7: I once contemplated lashing a PDP-11/780 main system unit onto a packframe and hiking it eight miles for one of my backcountry weekends/nerdfests. I quickly abandoned the idea when it became apparent that it would not only far exceed the load limits of most frames currently on the market and yet to be introduced but virtually any human back.
My then-20-year old, 10-pound Toshiba laptop, although significantly more portable than anything DEC ever made, was also no-go.
Sage advise, as always.
What happen to Hike your own Hike? You for got to mention that no matter what pack you use you could change it out for an external frame backpack…once dialed in primarily your torso length…it will be the best backpack you will ever carry…
My kids started hiking very young….er… I started carrying them about in a backpack when they were very young (like months old, & alas, also in Europe a bit) Now they are both teen-age hammock campers. Sometimes the extra weight is well worth it…